OU Stats — January 2013

Wow, Metagross is actually higher in usage to Haxorus. Suprising, but not suprising as Haxorus is pretty outclassed, and Meta really has no point in OU. Other than that, everything seems pretty in place. Reuniclus has been falling gradually for the past months, which sort of irked me.

MY NEW MISSION: Use a Cloud Nine user effectively in OU to troll Rain teams. So far I've been doing this and running a SubSD set which does particularly well.

| 55 | Abomasnow | 2.93260% | 27835 | 2.928% | 25193 | 3.288% |

Oh. Hm. Well, at least it's hovering back to the OU threshold, and with Reuniclus and Haxorus plummeting down it'll probably return to OU without much of a hassle. Here's to hoping Cloyster also follows suit in the trends and gives this guy more room to return to OU from.

Starmie is still up there because it Rapid Spins. Barring that, its rather weak, not too bulky, and it would most likely be UU if we had many other choices for spinners. The other reasonable options, though, are Forretress and Tentacruel. Yeah. There goes your momentum.
We really need more Rapid Spinners.

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Starmie is far and away the best spinner in the game; it can do a million things and, most importantly, it can RECOVER. This gives it a huge edge over other Spinners, and it can go offensive or defensive and you still have no idea.

Starmie is far and away the best spinner in the game; it can do a million things and, most importantly, it can RECOVER. This gives it a huge edge over other Spinners, and it can go offensive or defensive and you still have no idea.

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Trust me, I know Starmie is the best Rapid Spinner (although RainCruel ain't half bad either). I'm just saying that without the niche of Rapid Spin, Starmie wouldn't be used. Its power and bulk is lacking compared to other Pokemon in OU, and if we didn't have to Rapid Spin, or if something else got Rapid Spin, Stamie usage would drop like a rock.

Starmie is still up there because it Rapid Spins. Barring that, its rather weak, not too bulky, and it would most likely be UU if we had many other choices for spinners. The other reasonable options, though, are Forretress and Tentacruel. Yeah. There goes your momentum.
We really need more Rapid Spinners.

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Actually, Foretress is not that bad for the momentum, thanks to Volt Switch (if only it were U-turn).

Considering Starmie, it's not bad with it's good speed, but when you see that Raikou is only UU despite the same speed, better spe attack and better bulk, and a correct typing (less resistances, but not weak to pursuit, U-turn...), I think that without rapid spin, Staross would be really close to UU, or into UU.

@Smilodon- Starmie has hydro pump, thunderbolt, and ice beam, which way much more threatening than thundebolt and HP ice.

These are hands down the best statistics I have seen ever for OU. Landorus is not that good guys, you just need to prepare for it and it loses. Bronzong, gyarados, lati@s, celebi, moltres, ice shard, heracross, rotom-w or whatever.

Actually, Foretress is not that bad for the momentum, thanks to Volt Switch (if only it were U-turn).

Considering Starmie, it's not bad with it's good speed, but when you see that Raikou is only UU despite the same speed, better spe attack and better bulk, and a correct typing (less resistances, but not weak to pursuit, U-turn...), I think that without rapid spin, Staross would be really close to UU, or into UU.

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I agree, even with Specs on Starmie barely hits hard. Without Rapid Spin it would probably be in UU.

Speed is another plus point, but its barely useful, sometimes its effective for late game sweep if you're running an offensive variant only due to its ability of out speed everything in the tier except for Alakazam and Jolteon.

I agree, even with Specs on Starmie barely hits hard. Without Rapid Spin it would probably be in UU.

Speed is another plus point, but its barely useful, sometimes its effective for late game sweep if you're running an offensive variant only due to its ability of out speed everything in the tier except for Alakazam and Jolteon.

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True, but rain really, really helps Starmie do its job. Life Orb Hydro Pump in the rain does buttloads to many Pokémon in the tier, so it's Water typing is arguably better than Raikou's Electric typing, not to mention Starmie has great coverage moves in Ice beam/Blizzard, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Psyshock, even Hidden Power Fire works on non rain sets to nail Ferrothorn. All of this in combination with his fantastic speed tier and Rapid Spin make Starmie a formidable threat.

This makes me upset. I basically have to use two teams to ladder with one designed to to get through the troves of noobs that think Ninjask is still good. Even then, some higher ranked players use him to troll..

The worst part is he's used more than Mew. Mew may not be the best Pokemon in OU by any means but it's a hell of a lot more useful than ninjask.

The worst part is he's used more than Mew. Mew may not be the best Pokemon in OU by any means but it's a hell of a lot more useful than ninjask.

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The thing is Mew is kind of a, 'Jack of All trades master of none'.

everything it can do is done better by someone else. Sableye pulls of the Support set better. Lead Role of Rocks+Taunt is done better by Azelf, who has a higher speed, nasty plot instead can be pulled off more reliably by the Jirachi CM set, with that superb secondary steel typing making him more resilient.

Plus Mono psychic is never really good synergy or defense wise in OU.

On the Other hand. Ninjask performs a very specific nice, very... very well in OU. Baton Passing Speed Boosts. And it's nearly unstoppable at that. So it is much more used by any team looking for Agility Baton Passes.

On the Other hand. Ninjask performs a very specific nice, very... very well in OU. Baton Passing Speed Boosts. And it's nearly unstoppable at that. So it is much more used by any team looking for Agility Baton Passes.

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I'd like to reiterate this. When Prankster was announced, people instantly decried Baton Pass as a thing of the past, when in reality Prankster is not that common. A lot of people used Whimsicott upon release, but his usage quickly died off (seriously, he was RU not very long into BW1). Sableye is making strides, but Ninjask still does his job very effectively.

Everyone is saying Haxorus will be banned to BL if dropped to UU due to massive attack and modest speed for that tier but what about Reuniclus? It's just as close to dropping to UU but do you think it's too good for UU as well? I feel it has a chance to avoid the BL purgatory with several threats in UU keeping it in line like Scarf Heracross, Scrafty, and Cofagrigus. I still see Escavalier used in UU who would be TR Reuniclus' worst enemy with its deadly Megahorn and slower speed when using a negative spe nature with 0 IVs. This is all theorymoning though and the little squish ball for all I know might destroy UU lol.

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Ironic how there were petition to ban Reuniclus to Ubers in early BW, and now it's close to dropping. Really illustrates how time can cause a metagame to change.

And I somehow suspect that the release of BW2 might have had a tiny influence on it too.

In the same regard, we were close to suspect test Volt-Turn for its brokenness. The same arguments are now recycled in the weather debate, whereas the loud voices against Volt-Turn have silenced. Things surely do change within a generation, and it will be exciting to see how the current top threats will fare in six months.

Ironic how there were petition to ban Reuniclus to Ubers in early BW, and now it's close to dropping. Really illustrates how time can cause a metagame to change.

And I somehow suspect that the release of BW2 might have had a tiny influence on it too.

In the same regard, we were close to suspect test Volt-Turn for its brokenness. The same arguments are now recycled in the weather debate, whereas the loud voices against Volt-Turn have silenced. Things surely do change within a generation, and it will be exciting to see how the current top threats will fare in six months.

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To be honest, that's the main reason why usage stats and tiering by usage is so fascinating to a biology student like me. The trends that competitive pokemon follow are a LOT like the trends evolving populations have. Volt-turn was really hard to play against when it was first discovered, but overtime, the community adjusted to it, and found ways to play against it without weakening their teams. Because of this, people stopped using Voltturn as much because the main way to stop it [hyper offence?] picked up in popularity and became the new norm. Likewise, Reuniclus was super overpowered at the start of Black and White because it could easily find a free turn or two to set-up some Calm Minds. But over time, the entire tier has evolved to become so much more fast paced, especially after the release of new threats into the environment [T-t, Keldeo, Genesect], that Reuniclus struggles to find its 1-2 turns of set-up that it got back at the start of gen 5, and thus has faded away into obscurity. Its Trick Room set also lacks the sheer power to OHKO things like some other threats have, therefore it's overshadowed by bigger threats. Just my thoughts on stats and stuff, I'll stop rambling now.

Other than that, I'm pleasantly surprised that Keldeo and both Landorus have finally been getting the recognition they deserve, at least in terms of stats.

And am I the only person that is completely PUZZLED as to why Dragonite is all the way up at #5? Seriously? It's good, but it isn't THAT good :/

| 18 | Gliscor | 9.85896% | 98594 | 10.372% | 78437 | 10.238% |
| 22 | Landorus-Therian | 8.67255% | 62606 | 6.586% | 54159 |
Now this is sorta surprising. I remember how earlier gliscor was in the top 10 and landorus-t was on the cusp of being booted off to UU. Thankfully though people have begun to use it more and more I see.

| 33 | Landorus | 6.93382% | 49763 | 5.235% | 38664 | 5.047% |
This is weird. Landorus's sheer force set is SO good in this meta that I expected it to be way higher.

The thing is with Chansey is that it always has to compete with Blissey for a teamslot. Not saying one is better than the other or whatever, but their roles are nearly identical, and you will never see both on the same team. They also have very similar checks and counters, even though they work in different ways.

This brings the twins up to around rank 23. Interestingly enough, that also puts their usage right next to one of their favorite partners, Skarmory. Which makes alot more sense.

Sure Chansey tends to set up SR better and Blissey tends to Wishpass better. Chansey can take physical hits a bit better and Blissey takes residual damage a bit better. But overall they're still the same in that they're both massive special sponges, and will often find themselves in the same types of teams with similar teammates. They also have very similar checks and counters. So when teambuilding and looking at these stats, looking at them together can be helpful to see their impact.

You also often find that when you've got two similar Pokemon (e.g. Chansey/Blissey, Latias/Latios, etc.), it tends to be the more offensive one with gets more usage. Like Chansey and Latias have lower offenses and higher defenses, and get less usage than their counterparts, and Nidoqueen gets less usage than Nidoking in UU. I can't be bothered to check, but I bet in most cases (Plusle/Minum, etc. in lower tiers) it's the one with more offensive stats that gets more used.

Reuniclus is actually quite good. You don't need a full TR team to use it, I use it with a Balanced team (albeit lacking a scarfer and has 2x priority).

You'd be suprised how well it works with scizor.

Gonna go out on a limb and say that CM reun sucks, don't use it. TR is the way to go.

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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say try using TR+CM Niclus. FB and Shadow Ball for perfect coverage. It may sound sketchy but your opponent won't be able to do anything about it during the late game clean up.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say try using TR+CM Niclus. FB and Shadow Ball for perfect coverage. It may sound sketchy but your opponent won't be able to do anything about it during the late game clean up.

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Gonna have to say that STAB + Focus Blast is better. You lose coverage on very few things, and the STAB boost is worth it, imo. The only things that will fully wall you are Sableye and Spiritomb, the later of which is really rare.

Something I just realized...
| 84 | Kyurem | 1.16590% | 9499 | 0.999% | 6735 | 0.879% |
That right there is criminally underused. SubRoost, guys, get on that, it is so, so good.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say try using TR+CM Niclus. FB and Shadow Ball for perfect coverage. It may sound sketchy but your opponent won't be able to do anything about it during the late game clean up.

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to be frank, that sounds really, really bad. first of all, running reuniclus without its strongest move seems silly when reun is one of those pokemon just bordering on the edge of being powerful enough to net a ton of ohkos, so when you lose your best option to snag those kos, now you're looking at a pokemon that is a lot less threatening than it should be. second, in this day and age there often isn't any time for a calm mind, especially when you lack recover. with the offensively oriented metagame and all it entails, even setting up trick room can be a hassle at times, with many pokemon threatening to ohko, set up on, or neutralize reuniclus before it can do anything about it as a result of its extremely poor speed and vulnerable typing. finally, if the set you're proposing is strictly for late-game cleaning purposes, why do you need calm mind at all? shouldn't the standard life orb tr + 3 attacks set be enough to do the job? after all, late in the game most of your opponent's pokemon will have been worn down by hazards and residual damage that has stacked up over time, so a boost won't be necessary to net the kill, since reuniclus has neutral coverage on literally everything, and super-effective coverage on a lot of the ou tier. it seems like overkill to me.